Should the city enact a ‘safe pass’ ordinance for bicyclists?

The intersection of Allen Parkway and Waugh on Wednesday illustrates the growing number of two-wheeled travelers in Houston. Gov. Rick Perry vetoed a 2009 bill to require drivers to keep a minimum distance from cyclists. Read more. (Melissa Phillip / Houston Chronicle)

City Council is exploring an ordinance that would give bicyclists more protection on the road, requiring that motorists keep a certain distance way from those riding bicycles. Houston’s built for cars, so do you think this is a good idea? Should the city increase protections for cyclists? Leave a comment and let us know.

72 Responses

I think the City is starting to head down a slippery slope….. what’s next, the size of soft drinks restaurants can serve? Let’s not become like every other California nanny state city or, heaven forbid, Bloomberg’s NY.

The idea that we need an ordinance is sheer ignorance. Unfortunately, ignorance rules. The fact is that a bicycle is a vehicle. This means that cyclists must obey all of the laws, but also, you have no more right to try to squeeze into a a single lane of traffic to pass a bicyclee than to pass any other vehicle. Auto drivers that croud cyclists to the side are already in violation of traffic laws, but even the cops are too dense to look at it objectively. Cyclists are not pedestrians, they are vehicles. Cyclists need to know that when riding on a four lane road, absolutely take the right lane and don’t leave room to pass. Only idiots (I know, there are a million idiots) don’t understand that if they want to pass another vehicle, they should change lanes. Cyclists must also obey minimum speed limits and take alternate routes.

Pay – It is really irritating when a cyclist that takes you a long time to be able to pass safely, then when the cars stop at a light the same rider goes to the front of the line and the process starts over. I have no problem with their safety, but if they are going to ride on the streets with cars, they should obey the same laws.

Frankie,
Cyclists are required by Texas state law to ride as near to the right as practicable. That means that yes, it is not just their right but their duty to ride to the right and pass those cars until reaching the red light at the intersection.

As a former road rider and an auto driver (nearing 1 million miles without causing a wreck) – I see how bad our roads really are. Wide shoulders are excellent for bikes and vehicle emergencies/mechanical problems. Dedicated bike paths would be the best solution, and the move to link all the bayous into a long trail system would be perfect.
I never liked riding in traffic. It’s way too dangerous.
Bike lanes are great, as long as the city doesn’t just narrow the vehicle lane to make room for it.
As far as making a law giving a bicycle space, OK, but how about a law mandating they must go within 10 mph of the speed limit? IE you have to go 25mph in a 35mph zone? Problem is that most riders don’t break 20mph – yet clearly the difference in speed causes huge problems.
So that’s why I think the best idea is to keep them separated.

Of try following the traffic laws. I’ve never almost hit a cyclist who was following the laws but I can tell you numerous stories about cyclists who were breaking laws that I almost hit. Believe me, the last thing I want to do is be a part of someone’s injury or death but if I’m the one obeying the laws and I hit a bike that turns in front of me with no signalling for runs right through a red light, I’ll still have to deal with it.

Bicyclists endure a lot of hazards in Houston and I respect their right to the road. However, in general, I find them a rude and lawless group. They almost never stop at lights or stop signs, running them flagrantly. They also ride two or three abreast in a single lane. The law should include penalties for not riding in single file unless passing (just like autos) and running stop signs equal to the penalties for crowding them with cars.

I’d be fine with that if the next transportation bill that came down from the feds required all new cars to be made such that the driver and all the passengers must sit in their car single file in order to reduce the width of cars and thus make more room on the roads. Makes about as much sense…

Actually, bicyclist are legally allowed to ride two abreast (not sure about three)and it is actually safer for the bicyclist as it increases their visibility.

As one of those young hipster kids it does irritate me to no end to see bikers blowing through stop signs/red lights and otherwise ignoring traffic laws. They do give the rest of us a bad name and while I will admit that this is fairly common, it has been my experience that a small majority of bikers that I have encountered actually do obey traffic laws. Then again I live and ride inner-loop and ignoring lights/signs is like playing Russian roulette.

I agree completely. I get the feeling at times that some bicyclists feel entitled to disobey standard traffic laws (case in point – Critical Mass). If they’re going to continue to be so adamant about cars sharing the roads, they need to at least be conscientious and follow the same standards that motorists are held to. I think more bike lanes would do alot to alleviate the problem as well.

Texas law allows a cyclist to use an entire lane when riding on a multi-lane road (where more than one lane travels in the same direction). Furthermore, Texas is one of few states in the US that allow bicyclists to ride two abreast.

Traffic lanes less than 12 feet are considered to narrow for a vehicle and car to occupy simultaneously. Very few lanes in Houston are more than 10 feet wide.

Whatever is good for one vehicle should be good for another. I’ve seen too many cyclists go in between drivers at red lights or just go through the red light all together. This is a dangerous practice. Most cyclists claim not to do this but I see it daily on Allen Parkway.

Even when they have their own lane marked for cyclists, my experience in several cities with such lanes was that they tended to ride two and three abreast, infringing upon the lanes designated for motor vehicles.

Add in the all-too-common ignorance by cyclists of mundane things like stop signs and traffic signals plus the refusal of the police to stop and cite those persons, and bikes on any lane of traffic is asking for trouble.

Not to mention, getting back to the ‘safe pass’ sort of topic, problems with such things magnify exponentially when cyclists decide they have the same right of access to a lane of traffic but cannot even remotely begin to keep up with the flow of traffic. Thus the cyclist has created a significant traffic problem because they cannot do the 30-40MPH that a street may be signed for, but because the traffic is heavy enough, other vehicles caught behind the slow cyclist are stuck. Even after the cyclist blows the light, the vehicles will STILL catch back up and the problems continue anew…

You are sooo right…unless you have a motor on your bike and go the speed limit you are not a car…get off the street…ride single file and obey traffic laws. I’ve had bicycle riders ride in front of my car on the street…get off the street and ride on the side of the street. You are not entitled to ride in a lane for cars..you don’t pay insuance and taxes or have a motor to ride in a lane for cars…make a law like this and a lot of wrecks will be taking out a lot more cycle riders…just saying…

I am all for bicyclists as long as they stay in the bicycle lane or on the side walk. When a bicyclist is just biking on the street it is very dangerous for everyone. Drivers get nervous, won’t pass a biker so backing up traffic. If there are biking lanes, I am ok with the change but bikers need to stay there. I think sometimes bikers get arrogant and think they own the street and show no regard for drivers safety.

In fact, that is the law. People are just too stupid to remember that bikes are vehicles and you freaking don’t pass another vehicle in the same lane. Ticket cyclists who do not follow traffic laws, and ticket motorists who don’t as well. We need no ordinance for what is already the law, we just need to educate people.

No On Safe Passing Ordinance. With all of the Bike Lanes here in Houston
and the new one they are proposing to build to connect what is already here.
Why Spend the $$s if they are going to use the Streets. They are absolutely
Rude, do not follow the Same Road Rules as Cars. We are talking about Bikes, not Thousand Pound Vehicles. It is taking your Life in your own hands, but blaming someone else when something happens. Why should the Majority be Inconvenienced for the Wants of a Few. And if your Bike Lanes are Littered, how about getting off your duffs and clean them up. When you are in heavy traffic with another car coming towards you, there is not enough room for a car to move over 4/6 feet. No, No, No.

Share the road? Share the cost! Have inspection fees and registration fees yearly like automobiles. Collect your own monies, then build your own lanes like metro. Oh, by the way, I too own multiple vehicles, and yes, every vehicle whether it be a bicycle, Harley, car, or truck, I have to pay yearly for each one. Then start obeying the laws, then we can talk about
“SHARE”.

The city drivers should take more care into their personal driving etiquette before generalizing an entire group of people that represent the amazing spectrum of individuals in Houston.

Yes, the Houston should have a safe passing city ordinance!

We are behind other Major Texas cities to adopt this!

Cars are a greater “nuisance” causing sound, air and noise pollution. If you live in the loop you might have a better grasp of the car congestion because there is a car problem here, not a bike problem.

I’m guessing none of you “Negative Nancy’s” actually follow local bicycle advocacy headlines. LAST year Houston was awarded a $15 million U. S. Department of Transportation grant to improve bicycle transportation to join the existing bike trails off and on the street. Adding this safe passing ordinance as these 13 Texas Cities already have, including Austin, Beaumont, Brownsville, Corpus Christi, Denton, Edinburg, El Paso, Fort Worth, Helotes, New Braunfels, Pharr, Plano, and San Antonio is not a new or foreign concept. If you are in a car and you get into a collision with a cyclist, you will walk away unscathed. The cyclist on a BIKE probably won’t.
With that being said there would be less questionable cyclist conduct if more people were informed on city ordinances and well, and cyclist etiquette. I see cyclists all through out Midtown/ Montrose/ Museum dist. riding against traffic (salmon travel upstream, not bikes!) on and off the side walks. Running red lights (I’ve never seen a car do that) disregarding stop signs (again never a car doing that).

Most cyclists don’t know or realize that they have use necessary bike lights while night riding and that bicycle bells are a safety tool to let pedestrians know when you are going to pass them or other cyclists as a courtesy. The Houston cycling community has a lot of growing and maturing ahead of us undoubtedly.

I don’t think we should have bikes on the road with bike lanes or not. Why I’m I paying taxes to build lanes for bikes they don’t pay any road taxes. How about a lane of Motorcycles that do pay taxes for being on roads

who is going to be able to accurately measure the safe distance? Houston need to increase bikeways not inact stupid laws. Bikers do nothing but hinder traffic by not being able to go the posted speed limit. Its very frustrating to have to pass a biker. They need to get off the road and onto a newly created bike ways. Wake up and give the bikers what is really needed safe routes for bikes only.

The bikes should be required to have a working bell and lights front and back. They ride 2 abreast on the road and demand that the cars drive around them in a great distance. On a 2-way lane this is not possible. If they would be required by law to ride in single file on the side of the road – or on a bike path if available – everybody would be much safer. Bicyclists think traffic laws are not meant for them, like they cross on a red light, don’t show when they turn left, etc. On a path on the Bayou I walk every day with a little dog, they come from behind and without warning zip by totally close to me.The little dog darts sometimes from left to right sniffing and it becomes very dangerous.I was almost hit a number of times by a rider. I think pedestrians need more protection and bicyclists need to be forced to follow traffic laws.

Ummm…Tina Bivin…you want cyclists to stay on the sidewalk? Guess you don’t realize it is illegal to ride bikes on sidewalks? Hey, if Houston had bike lanes it would certainly be ideal. They don’t (for the most part), so cyclists have to use car lanes.

I’d love to see more bike lanes, and I’d love to see my fellow cyclists obey the rules of the road.

We cannot ride on sidewalks, so we must ride in the road. Does that give a driver the right/okay to zip past us in anger, nearly clipping us with their mirrors? No. A driver doesn’t want me zipping by them within inches of their car, either, I don’t image — so let’s play nice TOGETHER.

I’m a cyclist, and I agree that cyclists should be given tickets if they don’t abide by the rules of the road re: stops and lights.

I also believe that there’s such a thing as taking the higher road, so don’t punish all cyclists with negative attitudes just because you, a driver, have witnessed some idiot cyclists. Don’t cause me to have an accident or fear a run-over because you think you need to graze me or scare me off the road — *I* wasn’t the cyclist that “wronged” you, so give me a break.

This is just plain common sense and courtesy, the same common courtesy one should give to each other wherever they are. As well, the cyclist should respect drivers rights as well and allow as much road space as possible to safely pass. Folks…it’s called “Sharing the road”!

As for comments about cyclist running stop signs and lights etc., while this may be true and there are some who flagrantly do so, most of us do so not as a means to take advantage of the ability, but rather to maintain safety. In most instances, it is better for the cyclist to remove himself from the traffic situation as quickly and safely as possible thus becoming one less for drivers to engage and anticipate.

Why not require cyclists to obey the rules of the road as set out in the Texas Vehicle Code? You know like stopping at STOP signs or redlights, slower traffic keep right, no vehicles without lights at night, yielding to pedistrians.

They are a hazard on thoroughfares during morning and evening rush hours. This is a congested enough town, we do NOT need bicyclist pedalling down Washington Avenue at 5pm (or 8am, for that matter), holding up traffic.

Most of the safety issues are of their own making. Cyclists need to start following the rules of the road or get tickets. Time to feel sorry for the drivers have to deal with the thought of almost killing someone because a cyclist didn’t even slow down for a red light (heaven forbid their heart rate should fall).

And the police should arrest the people who are involved with the Critical Mass rides. Nothing like sitting at a red light for 20 minutes while a road full bicycles takes up the road ignoring all traffic laws.

Well, I haven’t ridden my bike for years, but I’m pretty sure most cyclists HAVE paid taxes and vehicle regisrations for their cars (which they’re not using). The only “Angry” people here are drivers that seem to think they’re justified in torturing riders that want to stay in shape while REDUCING your traffic.

There is a group of idiots that ride bikes that call themselves “Critical Mass”. Look how these fools act on any one of their rides and ask yourself if you would like to extend their stupidity even further.

Bahahahaha!
I was waiting for someone to mention Houston Critical Mass….

Their conduct as a group is HORRIBLE! Critical Mass should in no way effect me, a non-participant and law abiding cyclist.

Just because they don’t follow traffic laws does not mean I do not deserve protection as a tax paying resident while excersicing, commuting, getting groceries, riding for fun.

It seems like your greivances with critical mass have nothing to do with the ordinace. If you are in too big of a hurry for us to share the road maybe you should set out on trips earler to BEAT the traffic you help create with your car.

I think you are just content with being a human that can justify reckless behavior because of superficial time constraints.

SORRY.

Also.. you DO choose to live in Houston, this place with a blossoming cycling community that has such a growing ridership that improvements to the infastucture are neccesary.

Thanks for posting this Emily. I never cease to be amazed how much ignorance drives people’s viewpoints. Most of the anti-cyclist people who posted here clearly have no understanding of the rules that currently exist governing bicycling on roadways. I doubt any of them will bother to read them but at least you tried.
I used to commute every day about 12 miles on my bike. I rode mostly sidestreets and I’m particularly compulsive about obeying the traffic laws. Sadly there are many cyclists who are also ignorant of their legal responsibilities or choose to violate them frequently. I wish they would stop. But I will say that there are far more drivers who violate the laws on a daily basis and there are even bicyclist on the roadways. Drivers routinely exceed speed limits, drive on shoulders, blow through stop lights and stop signs. One of those drivers hit me during an afternoon commute home and since last October I have been unable to ride my regular bicycle. I tried switching to a recumbent but that ended in disaster when I was forced up onto a damaged sideway resulting in an accident and torn thigh muscles. That driver just didn’t want to go around me so he chose to pass me with about 3 inches to spare. I swerved up into a driveway and hit a massively cracked piece of sidewalk which blew out my front tire and cause me to crash. The nice guy never even bothered to stop. I don’t think I’ll be writing much for the next year or so given my injuries. I hope that during that time we can make bicycling a little bit safer in the city.
Thanks again for your post.

Until cyclists start obeying the laws designed for all vehicles (or perhaps when the police start enforcing them) they will never gain the respect of motorists. Start fining these blatant law breakers and use their proceeds to build their bike lanes. In lees than a year Houston could have more dedicated bike lanes than all cities in Texas combined. And yes….Critical Mass is an arrogant group than is a danger to all. Heaven help any emergency vehicles that need to get through while they are running multiple cycles of traffic lights without regard for whether it is green or red.

These idiot cyclists do NOT understand that THEY are the ones putting a 20 pound toy on a road populated by gas & deisel powered 2000+ pound vehicles moving at 45 miles an hour. And they want to think they have a right to be there!??! How stupid must they be? They will find out the answer to that question when they wake up in the hospital. SOOOOOOO glad my parents taught me to ride my bike on the sidewalk & NOT NOT NOT in the street because THAT is dangerous. I was taught to not put myself in dangerous situations. To bad they weren’t.

I say let THEM contribute money to the city to build bike paths to keep them safe & off the streets but don’t dare think I should have to pay for it becaue I do not ride a bike.

(But you watch…NOT a one will respond to how they put their lives in danger by doing what they do, but rather they will respond with stupid replies like “I can ride there if I want”!! You watch that happen)

Riding on the sidewalk is dangerous and illegal (in any area of Houston with 600 contiguous feet of business frontage). Motorists leaving parking lots will pull all the way up to the road before checking for traffic, which means any cyclist passing by on the sidewalk gets hit.

“You watch what happen” sounds like a threat. Is that how you meant it?

Zeppdoc, your parents did a great job raising you to not follow the laws by riding on the sidewalks. I wonder if you can imagine a place called Houston where there is an ordinance that prohibits PEOPLE on BIKES from riding on sidewalks. Now imagine that PEOPLE on BIKES are painfully aware that they are sharing the road with individuals like yourself that feel as though these roads were created not for a variety of VEHICLES rather “gas & deisel powered 2000+ pound vehicles moving at 45 miles an hour”.

Scary I know.

What is more frightening is the amount of “Houstonians” that have an issue with passing bad judgement on all cyclists weather or not we follow or break the laws. This attitude is not one conducive to
1.MUTUAL RESPECT
2.PROGRESS
3.SAFETY

That is soooo true..if you don’t have a motor on your tryke stay off the street…Why would any one think they could ride a bike 25 mph? We ride on the sidewalk and teach our kids to do the same…or ride as close to the curb as we can till we get to sidewalks…

@zeppdoc, your parents tought you incorrectly. Riding your bike on the sidewalk in the direction of traffic increases your risk of a vehicle collision 2X than taking the road lane. Riding your bike on the sidewalk against the direction of traffic increases your risk of a vehicle collision 10X. You were tought to put yourself in the MOST dangerous situation.

All of your arguments are from ignorance. Bicyclists already pay for roads and subsidize cars. Zero percent of your gas taxes pay for local and arterial roads. Those roads are paid for by sales taxes and property taxes, which cyclists pay. Impact on the roads scales by the fourth power of the axel load. Compare a truck and passenger to me on my bike. 2000^4 / 80^4 = 390,000. Therefore, if I ride my bike to the grocery store I pay nearly 400,000 times my road costs compared to if I drive. Cyclists are the ones subsidizing your vehicle on the road. We already pay, though I would be happy to pay more for you to attend a defensive driving course.

People on bicycles are people – and not all that different in their knowledge and habits than people who walk or drive cars. Do not hurt people, people! My wife and I ride about once a week, and after fifty plus years of riding we wear helmets and riding gloves, wear high contrast clothes when riding, have “bike bells” for warning people we’re near, and we have lights front and back for visibility. When we ride, we ride to get to and from someplace – as best we can. We go fast when we can, slow when we need to… We ride in the street because we have to, not because we want to… We don’t ride on sidewalks because it’s illegal to do so past age 12, but we’ll break that rule if it’s safer; better a ticket than a toe tag. Also, we’ll run stop signs and red lights if it looks safe to do so; being in “someone’s way” anyway, it’s better to get on with the ride, and, sitting next to and in front of hot and smelly cars just negates the entire point of going outside for “fresh air.” I used to ride a motorcycle and I don’t think “two wheeling” it is really very safe, or, very smart given how easy it is to get hurt or killed by other people who, very often, don’t mean you any harm at all. Yet, a moving 3500+ pound plus car – at ANY speed – is a deadly weapon in the hands of a 16 year old or a 90 year old. That you have to pass a law to tell people, again, to work and play safely means none of us is safe. Run over a biker and go to court, maybe to jail. On the other hand, be “that crunching sound,” or, “loud thump” that haunts someone’s dreams the rest of their life – that’s not fun for anyone either. People, give yourselves a break. It may be you on the bike someday, or, walking in the street, or, going “too slow” in your car while looking for an address. We’ll all get to the Pearly Gates soon enough anyway; ease up on the “Give ‘em hell” stuff. Thank you.

Two comments: 1. I watched a cyclist on a sidewalk going the “wrong way” (it was a four lane divided street, he was headed west and the near side traffic was headed east) hit a car that was pulling out of the parking lot. 2. I passed a cyclist, giving him plenty of room but when I got to the light I moved close to the curb to prevent him from getting in front of me. He pulled up to my driver’s door and threatened to kill me.

If you want the “safe pass” law then it ought to apply to bicycles also, i.e. they should not get within the same distance of cars, meaning that they can not go to the front of the line at a light or stop sign. Also it should be a law that if there is a bike path riders cannot be on the street.

First, it is a matter of courtesy. Should you have to pass laws to enforce courtesy and common sense? One would hope not, but when life and limb are involved and especially after some of the comments above it appears so. Are all those other 13 cities in Texas wrong for having such an ordinance.
Secondly, it is Texas law that, “A person operating a bicycle has the rights and duties applicable to a driver operating a vehicle under this subtitle”. (See Emily’s post from yesterday for the full law.) So, yes some cyclists disobey the laws. So do some motorists. (Have you ever run a red light in your car, driven over the speed limit, talked on your phone while driving or my favorite turned right from the left turn lane or vice versa, etc.) No one group is blameless. Some municipalities do give tickets to cyclists.
As for “bike lanes” they would be great, if they were all like the one on Heights Blvd. but it disappears at Washington and reappears on Waugh at Gray. In between you take your life in your hands. A more representative example is the bike lane on Weslyan between Westheimer and West Park – too narrow, filled with debris, parked cars, garbage cans etc.

I ride my bike to and from work every day, so I see traffic early in the morning and later in the afternoon. I am astonished at how rude drivers can be, many go out of their way to scare me off the road, especially in a place that prides itself on “southern hospitality.” I also own a car and drive to work whenever the weather is too horrible to ride my bike, which allows me to understand both points of view. Yes, a biker in “your” lane might slow you down, but so might a car or other impediment on the road. BE Courteous! Bottom line is there should be a law protecting bicyclist from cars….I am not likely to kill anyone but myself on a bike, you are protected in a giant bubble of metal. As to running lights and stop signs, I agree with many of the bicyclist posters above, we don’t do that to flout the law, we do it (at least I do) to MAINTAIN safety. One of the most dangerous spots for bicyclists is the intersection. If I can get through the light in a safe manner in front of the long line of cars, I will do so in order to maintain my speed and distance from those waiting. If it bothers you so much, maybe you should try riding a bike a few times to work/school and see how well you do.

I’m all for making these bicyclist pay these registration fees. Heck I pay @$65 per year of registration fees for my 4500 lb F-150 so I can legally run up and down the roads. On that same weight basis, these cyclists should be paying at least $.50 per year on their 30 lb bikes.

I am 56 years old and started commuting by bicycle here in Houston several years ago, but recently had to stop for reasons that I will explain. Here are my views on this topic:
1. Many people who have commented on this story have said that bikers are lawbreakers and don’t obey traffic laws. Many don’t, but neither most drivers. Consider the average speed on our road, there are practically no drivers that follow the speed limits. The fact that most drivers break the law is why many of us want red light cameras and tougher enforcement, but remember the outcry by drivers who didn’t want to get caught? I personally know a lot about lawbreaking drivers. I was hit by one who ran a stone cold red light. As a result my daily 12 mile commute by bike was, I hope temporarily, ended by my injuries. Maybe because of careless drivers like him (I suspect he was texting while driving, which is a whole other issue) all drivers should be confined to major highways and designated major streets. That is essentially the argument that you drivers are making. Some bicyclists break the law therefore no bicyclist should be allowed on the roadway. Does this make any sense? By the way, how many of you know that Texas law specifically permits bicyclists to ride in the street and that in many cities, I believe downtown Houston included, it is illegal to ride on the sidewalk.
2. As for the argument that bikes should stay on the sidewalk, my second-worst bicycling accident-after being hit by the driver, was when I was forced up onto a sidewalk by rude driver who did not want to change lanes in order to pass me. I was riding at the far right of the roadway as required by Texas law when riding on a two-lane roadway. I guess they just thought it would be funny to harass a bicyclist. The sidewalk I was forced onto after being forced off the road was so badly broken up that it caused me to have a flat, which caused an accident that resulted in my sustaining a torn thigh muscle. This demonstrates my main point about riding on sidewalks. In case you hadn’t noticed, in most parts of Houston our sidewalks are exceptionally narrow compared to the national standard and in horrible repair. And don’t forget, on many days of the week the sidewalk is obstructed with trash cans, recycling bins, and garbage.
3. As to one driver’s suggestion that he should not pay for bicycle lanes with his tax dollars. I’m fine with that as long as people who travel by bicycle don’t have to pay for his roadways. Perhaps proration system should be put in place: if you drive only 10% of the time you should pay only 10% of the cost of roads. Considering that a bicycle trail costs less than one quarter the cost of a single lane roadway I am pretty sure no bicyclist would object.
4. Have any of you drivers out there considered that for every bicyclist who rides to work there is one less car on the road to getting your way. If even 20% of the people using the roads chose to bicycle instead of driving (and that would only ever happened if we had safe bicycle lanes separated from the lanes used by automobiles) I suspect our traffic would be substantially less horrendous.
5. Houston is one of the fattest cities in America, and Texas is one of the fattest states. Study after study has shown that approximately 30% of the adult population in Texas is not just fat, but clinically obese. Doesn’t it make sense to do what we can to encourage all those fat people (myself included) to get off their butts and onto a bicycle? Did any of you out there consider the hundreds of billions of dollars the diseases like heart disease and diabetes cost taxpayers every year? The big problem is that most people are intimidated to ride bike, as my experience will attest, with good reason, because they are afraid to get on the road. Why are they afraid? Because there are no bike lanes, drivers are not educated on how to deal with bicyclists, and bicyclists are not educated about the rules that apply to them. When I was commuting, I would frequently yelled at cyclists who did not obey the rules. I will say that in my experience most cyclists are not unsafe, most drivers are not unsafe, but there are some bad actors who give each group a horrible reputation.
I really hate that I am now condemned to driving as a result of my injuries. When I rode my bike I was much happier because I did not have to deal with traffic and all the other irritations that come with driving a car. And, exercise really does make you feel better. I’m also now much poorer because when I rode my bike my commute cost me next to nothing. All you drivers out there know how much it cost to operate a car. Maybe you should try a bike from time to time, even if just to go up to the corner grocery.
All you drivers and bicyclists out there, please stop speaking from ignorance, look up Texas transportation code § 551.103 if you want to know the law.
Since bicyclists are permitted by law to ride in the street and in some cases required to do so, this law should be a no-brainer. Until such time as bicyclists have dedicated bicycle lanes, the proposed law is necessary. Drivers need to ask themselves if a delay of a few seconds of time giving a bicyclist the break is worth more to them than the thousands of dollars they will have to pay if they hit a cyclist because they were following too closely or passing in a way that caused the injuries. I didn’t seek compensation for pain and suffering, of which there was, and still is, a lot, nor did I seek compensation for loss of enjoyment of life, or any of those wonderfully frilly things that I could have demanded as compensation. Still only collecting my out-of-pocket costs for medical bills, and a replacement bicycle, the guy who hit me is out $3000 and that does not include what my medical insurance company will collect under their subrogation rights. That’ll probably bring his total loss to well over $10,000, and he’s getting off easy.
Think about that.

You put a lot of thought into your comments, Tom S. You are a good man.

Houston Chronicle, you opened a can of worms with this question. Most knee-jerk comments are far off the topic of a safe passing law. They come from frustrated and callous motorists that view the world from behind 4000 pounds of steel and glass. For them, everything in the public roadway is an obstacle hindering their lengthy commute to get from point A to point B. When a person is behind the wheel, with the windows closed, they are insulated from the many negative effects of car travel.

Roadways are a public space, a shared resource to be protected. There is nothing wrong with requiring a safe distance between passing vehicles.